Title:
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Requirements elaboration for system co-developmet
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This research focuses on the changing role of requirements engineering, from one that
not only considers functional and non-functional requirements, as has traditionally been
the case, but also the interplay between business and system functionality. Whether a
business wishes to exploit advances in technology to achieve new strategic objectives or
to organise work in innovative ways, the process of requirements engineering can and
should present opportunities for modelling and evaluating the potential impact that
technology can bring to an enterprise through a process of co-development. (0-
development aims to ensure alignment between enterprise and Information Systems
goals and requirements. However a number of challenges are faced during codevelopment
projects, emanating from the engagement of multiple stakeholders from
differing organisations, subcontractors, divisions, etc, who have different experiences,
skills and frequently competing goals. Stakeholders are faced with many different
alternative future 'worlds', each potentially demanding different development strategies.
Furthermore questions are raised about the potential structure of the new business
system and how key variables in this structure could impact on the dynamics of the
system. This thesis introduces and develops a framework to deal with the
aforementioned issues. This framework called, the Requirements Elaboration Framework
is proposed to enable the modelling and evaluation of the impact of reqUirements on the
enterprise. The framework comprises System Dynamics, ontology, scenario and rationale
modelling. Behaviour of the enterprise system is defined within the System Dynamics
model. Invariant components of the physical and social world, in the enterprise and
application domain, are formally defined within the ontology model. Scenario modelling
is used to identify critical variables. Quantitative analysis of the effects of such variables
through simulation enables a better understanding of the dynamic behaviour of possible
future structures. Assumptions and reasoning behind key decisions are charted within
the rationale model. This assists with collaborative stakeholder discussions during
ontology and scenario modelling. A case study, which focuses on the liberalisation of
electricity in the European Union, is used to illustrate the workings of the proposed
framework.
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